The first book I read on holiday in Sri Lanka was Dying Day by Vassem Khan, having hugely enjoyed Midnight at Malabar House, the first in the Malabar House series (see my blog).

This second in the series picks up with Indian’s first post-Independence female detective inspector, Persis Wardia, as she sets out to solve a case that revolves around a missing six-hundred-year-old edition of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Thankfully the unsuitable romance set up in the first book is still simmering away in this one, with awkward Englishman Archie Blackfinch (great name) becoming her partner in crime (solving) once again.

Chasing down the missing book and a missing scholar involves Persis going on a treasure hunt and solving another complex rhyming clue each time she succeeds, to see where the manuscript might be. Here her and her father’s love of books and puzzles comes in handy and she is soon putting herself in danger all over Bombay, trying to find the book before the killer does.

This was utterly enjoyable from start to finish and I now can’t wait to read the next one.